Dangers of Taking Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers Together
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(September 2011)
Find out how using a combination of two drugs, one from each of these two families, can increase the risks of kidney toxicity and dangerously higher blood levels of potassium compared to use of one of these two families of drugs alone. The article lists 10 different drugs in the first class and seven in the second class. Worse yet, most of the patients in the study were prescribed the combination to treat conditions for which the combination has not proven to be beneficial.

Potassium Increases Due to Drug Interactions Can Be Dangerous
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(November 2008)
One of the most common drug interactions occurs when patients take two or more drugs that can each increase blood potassium levels. The resulting condition, hyperkalemia (increased blood potassium levels), can cause nausea, fatigue, muscle weakness or tingling sensations, as well as heart abnormalities, showing up as an abnormal electrocardiogram. In some cases it can be fatal. The article lists 50 drugs which, especially when used in combination, can cause hyperkalemia.

Massive Study Confirms That Inexpensive Water Pills (DIURETICS) Should Be Used First In Treating High Blood Pressure
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(February 2003)
The results of a very large clinical trial designed to give a definitive answer to the decades-old question of which of four commonly used families of high blood pressure medications should be prescribed first was published in the December 18, 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The answer is that the oldest drugs — known as the thiazide diuretics, or water pills — are superior in preventing one or more major forms of cardiovascular disease to the other families of drugs.
DO NOT STOP TAKING ANY HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE MEDICATION WITHOUT FIRST CONSULTING YOUR PHYSICIAN.

Do Not Use! New Safety Warning Added to the Arthritis Drug Valdecoxib (BEXTRA)
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(January 2003)
There is an additional similarity (aside from our listing both as DO NOT USE drugs) between valdecoxib and celecoxib, both are sulfa drugs and individuals who are allergic to sulfa drugs should not use them. Although celecoxib came on the market with a warning about sulfa drug allergy, valdecoxib did not. We previously wrote “It may be a dangerous oversight on the part of the FDA not to have required the same warning for valdecoxib.” Unfortunately, because uninformed patients have been needlessly harmed, our prediction has come to pass.